Stories by author "Norbert Friedman": 28

I was asked to speak at Fort Gillem recently, and when I came to Fort Gillem, the base commandant asked to speak to me. So I went to see General Wagner and General Jujitsky [spelling], who happened to be both of Polish Heritage, and they told me what…

"In 1996, I joined the fledgling museum in New York, the Jewish Heritage museum, the living memorial to the Holocaust, which opened up in 1997. And there, you know, there was a forum for speaking and sharing your experiences. We had thousands of…

"In 1968, I think, we moved to Long Island. I had friends in the survivors’ community. We used to get together. Why? Because we knew each other. We didn’t need to tell each other what we went through. We just, through a word, a name, a place, and…

"So I went looking for a job. The first job that I applied for was a, the job of my dreams – to be a journalist... We didn’t have journalists and faculty in my university, but I took the subjects that were closest to that particular discipline.…

"H-I-A-S, which is the Hebrew Immigration Aide Society, used to help immigrants that come to the United States to acclimate themselves. [They] provided the bonding for us to come to America to guarantee that we will not become charge of the American…

"I came to United States in June 1950. We arrived in New Orleans on Sunday, I think it was the 4th of June. We couldn’t debark on Sunday. We debarked on Monday. Monday night I was put on a-. What do you call it? Redeye train from New Orleans to…

"So we applied to go to the United States. When the captain found out, he said, 'Look, I can’t give you anything that’d be more valuable for you, more precious for you when you go to America than education.' He said get some education because we…

"So a few weeks later when we were in town, this fella tells me, 'Hey, I saw your buddy Oskar.' I say, 'What are you talking about?' 'I know, I know, they stationed in the school over there.' So I run over to that school, and there’s a guard…

"So we were sitting there, we started [to] crazily dance. First of all we were shocked. We were free. It was over. The nightmare was over. And we couldn’t react to it. One of them, all of a sudden dancing and jumping up and down in the hay. We were…